


Set-Up

by supremethunder



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-02-24 11:41:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2580188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supremethunder/pseuds/supremethunder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Your plan was to meet the rest of the Avengers. Unbeknownst to you, Natasha formulates a plan of her own to set you up with a certain star-spangled man.</p><p> Steve Rogers/Reader</p><p> Spin off to <i>In Safe Hands</i>. Title is subject to change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Steve Rogers series. My plan is to make this 3-5 chapters, but that can be subject to change as well as the title. Hopefully this series will allow me to have a better understanding of Steve's character. I hope you all enjoy!  
> 

_Did you want to meet up and have some Thai food? My treat._

That was the text message you received from Natasha. Seeing how it had been a few weeks since you last heard from her and you had the day off from work, you decided to take Natasha up on her offer. Free Thai food certainly beat whatever leftovers you had in your fridge.

_Sure, I’m game. Could you send me the address of the restaurant?_

It didn’t take long for Natasha to text you back with the restaurant’s address when you texted back your reply. After you made a mental note to do some grocery shopping and clean out your fridge, you made a beeline for the bathroom to get ready.

“She’s late…” You grumbled to nobody in particular. You checked the clock on your cell phone for the umpteenth time before you sighed in frustration.

Despite you and Natasha agreeing to meet at one-thirty at the Thai food restaurant, she failed to keep her end of the bargain. It was already two and you were getting starting to get a little irritated. It wasn’t like Natasha to be late for something she planned. It wasn’t until you saw Steve walk into the restaurant that you wondered if something had happened to Natasha.

“Hey, Steve,” You greeted.

“Hey, [Name],” Steve returned the greeting with a polite smile. “Funny seeing you here.”

“Likewise.” You replied. “Did something happen to Natasha?”

“Not that I’m aware of.” Steve knitted his brows in confusion. “She actually insisted that I meet her here since I’ve been meaning to try some Thai food.”

“Really…? Natasha said she would meet me here too and offered to treat me.” You blinked in surprise. "It's not like her to be late."

"Yeah, it's not. Why would she…” Steve trailed off.

It didn’t take long for you and Steve to figure out that Natasha had no intention of treating you or meeting you at the restaurant.

“Well, this is awkward.” You said with a nervous laugh. “If I had known I was going to be set-up, I probably wouldn’t have dressed so… casually.”

“Hey, it’s no worries. You look great, I mean, fine.” Steve said, a light blush dusting his cheeks.

“Thanks,” you blushed. “So, uh… since we’re already here did you want to eat together? We could go Dutch.”

"Sure, but since Natasha promised to treat you, how about I treat you instead? It's only fair if that's what you were promised."

"That's nice of you, Steve. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

After you approached and spoke with the restaurant’s hostess, you were seated to a small booth by a window.

"So, have you ever had Thai food before, [Name]?" Steve opened his menu and looked at you.

"I haven't." you shook your head before you scanned your own menu.

"I guess that makes two of us then. I don't really know what to expect."

“Me either. But judging by what’s on the menu, the dishes sound pretty good.

After your waitress came by and took your drink orders, you requested to have a few more minutes to decide what to eat.

“So, have you decided what you’re going to get?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, the Pad Thai looks really good, so I think I’ll get that.” You nodded. “How about you?”

“The stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts.” Steve read from the menu.

“Sounds tasty,” you nodded. "For a guy that's never had Thai food before, you certainly have good taste."

"I don't think you can officially say that until we've both tried the meal." Steve chuckled.

"Fair enough."

The waitress returned shortly with your drinks after you made your decisions on what to eat. She took your orders and menus before she headed off to the kitchen, but not before she shot a glare in your direction. If her glares aimed at you and looks of longing at Steve were any indication, she wished she was the girl sitting across from Steve. And who could blame her? You were on a date with Captain Friggin’ America!

“I hope the waitress doesn’t tell the cook to spit in my food or something.” You said half-jokingly.

“Why would she do that?” Steve frowned.

“C’mon, don’t tell me you didn’t see the way she looked at you. She was pretty taken by you, Rogers.”

“Well, I don’t see how that matters considering I'm here with you.”

“…touché.” You blushed.

Ooh, he was good. Damn good.

“By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you. How did you meet Natasha? She never told me how you both met.”

“Oh, that’s a funny story actually. Well, not so much funny as it was a cliché right out of a movie.”

You proceeded to tell Steve the same story you told Tony: Natasha came to your rescue by _persuading_ your sexual harasser to stop bothering you, and giving you a stun-gun disguised as a lipstick.

“It doesn’t look like much, but it definitely gives me a peace of mind.”

Steve nodded before he leaned back in his seat. “Have you ever considered taking a self-defense class? I’ve heard those are pretty popular alternatives nowadays.”

“To be honest, I haven’t.” you shook your head before you smiled. “But hey, maybe I could cut out the middle man and let you teach me a few self-defense moves instead?”

You frowned when Steve looked at you surprised, so you quickly dismissed the suggestion with a wave of your hand. “I-I’m joking of course, but—“

“I wouldn’t be against it.” Steve interjected.

“Really?”

“I’m just not sure if I’d be cut out to be a self-defense instructor.” Steve admitted. “Being able to defend yourself and teaching someone to defend themselves are two different things.”

“Hey, you should have a little more faith in yourself, Steve.” You said with a reassuring smile. “Plus, it could be a learning experience for us both.”

You knew if Steve could hold his own against HYDRA agents and aliens, he could certainly teach you a thing or two about defending yourself.

“I suppose that’s one way to look at it. I’m always up for learning something new.” Steve nodded thoughtfully. “I can give you a run-down on some of the basics I know.”

“Perfect, that’s all I need. I guess all that’s left to do is figure out the time and place. We can work out the details later by phone… if that’s okay with you I mean.”

You hoped that you weren’t being too forward asking for Steve’s phone number, even if it was just to schedule a self-defense class with him. Much to your surprise, he nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, that would probably be easiest.”

“Cool,” you mentally sighed in relief.

You both pulled out your cell phones and exchanged numbers with each other. It took you a moment to process what just happened.

Steve had given you his phone number.

And he had yours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did you think? You excited to take some self-defense lessons from Steve? I know I would if I could get up close and personal with him. X3


	2. Self-Defense

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I can’t believe it’s been 2 years since I updated this story. I don’t know what inspired/motivated to write this chapter, but better late than never, right? XDD

A week had gone by since your ‘date’ with Steve Rogers at the Thai Food restaurant. Shortly after the impromptu blind date ended, you called Natasha to give her a piece of your mind. You were a little annoyed that Natasha sprung the blind date idea on you without so much as a warning. Thankfully, Natasha had owned up to it and apologized. She eventually began prodding you for details about the date, which you kept to a minimum, much to her disappointment. By the end of the call, you found yourself thanking Natasha since the date led to a second one, if you could call self-defense training a date that is…

Since then, you stayed busy with your usual nine to five work schedule and catching up on your weekly sitcoms and dramas on Hulu after work. Occupying your time was the best thing you could do to keep your mind off Steve and your upcoming “self-defense date”. You hadn’t heard back from Steve since you texted him a few days after your first date. You had texted him to ask Steve when he would be free to do some self-defense training, and his reply was short, but sweet.

_I’ll be sure to let you know :)_

You were happy to receive a reply back from Steve, but you were also hoping for a little more than just a one sentence text message.

 _I shouldn’t expect much. We went out on one date, and it wasn’t even planned._ You sighed as you continued to scroll through your list of shows on Hulu.

As if on cue, your phone began to vibrate, indicating you received a text message. When you saw that the text originated from Steve, you couldn’t help but feel a little giddy inside. 

_Are your free tomorrow afternoon? I’ve got some time to train and teach you some self-defense moves._

As you re-read the text message over three times, you clutched onto your phone for dear life as you debated how to reply. You quickly berated yourself for overthinking it.

 _Don’t think too much about it, [Name]. Just keep it simple and straight forward. He doesn’t need to know you’ve been waiting anxiously for a reply._ You nodded before you sent Steve a reply back.

_Yeah, what time works best for you?_

Lucky for you, the wait time for his response was only a few minutes. 

_How does 2PM sound?_

_2PM sounds good._

_Great, I’ll pick you up at 2._

_Awesome, I’ll send you my address! See you then, Steve. :)_

You exhaled a breath you hadn’t realized you’d been holding, and grinned at the thought of what tomorrow would bring. You decided to put your sitcom search on Hulu on hold as you headed into your bedroom to find some gym clothes to wear for tomorrow. Something that looked cute, but not too cute.

**~**

When Steve arrived on his motorcycle to pick you up, you assumed you’d be training at your local gym or at a park with open space. Instead, Steve had invited you to the private gym located inside the Avengers Tower, which you didn’t mind until you discovered that it was empty upon walking inside the gym. You had half expected there to be other agents working out with you.

“So, it’s just you and me today, huh?” You said with a nervous smile.

“Yeah, it’s just you and me.” Steve said with a small smile of his own. “I hope that doesn’t pose a problem. If you want, we can always work out someplace—”

“No, no. Course, not. No problem here.” You interrupted with a quick shake of your head.

 _The idea of being alone with you here makes me nervous, but excited._ You wanted to say, but you bit your tongue.

“All right, why don’t we start off with some light stretching before we get started?”

“Okay.” You answered.

You proceeded to do your usual light stretches, preparing your body for the training before you approached Steve, waiting for him to instruct you.

“Before we get started, I’ll go over parts of the body you’ll want to use and be aware of if you ever find yourself in a fight.” Steve lectured.

You nodded, watching Steve closely as you waited for him to continue his lecture.

“The best area to hit is the head, but it’s also the most difficult because a missed hit can mean breaking or dislocating your fingers. So if you’re unsure where you should aim, your best bet is to aim for the torso.” You watched as Steve placed a hand over his torso, and you found yourself inhaling sharply as your mind wandered what his torso looked like underneath his tight fitting shirt.

 _Good lord…_ You chewed on your lip, ogling his torso. _Why did he have to pick a shirt so tight fitting?_

“Uh-huh…” you mumbled.

“You have a better chance of hitting a major organ if you aim for the torso. Ultimately, your goal isn’t to win the fight, but to stun your opponent long enough to escape to stop further injury to either one of you.”

“That makes sense.” You said, finally tearing your eyes away from Steve’s torso.

“For now we’ll start with simple movements, then work our way up to techniques aimed to injure the torso.” Steve approached you before he gently took your wrist in his hand.

“If your attacker grabs you by the wrist, don’t try to pull it free. You’ll want to rotate your wrist and jerk sharply by bending your arm at the elbow.”

You nodded again, doing your best to maintain a poker face despite your mind screaming at you how awesome it was to have Steve touching you. You nearly whined when Steve removed his hand from your wrist to show you where to position your thumb after he instructed you to clench your hand into a fist. After practicing this technique a few times, Steve decided to move onto the next one.

“Let’s pretend your attacker tries to grab you from behind.”

Your eyes stayed on Steve as he walked around to stand behind you before he reaches from behind and he encircled his arms around you in a “bear hug” type grab. Steve made sure to keep a small space between your bodies, but his torso still managed to occasionally brush up against your back. Your body froze upon contact, but you somehow managed to maintain your composure. You had hoped and prayed Steve couldn’t feel or hear your pounding heartbeat that was practically ringing in your ears.

 _I knew Steve was built, but goddamn._ Your mind marveled. Steve’s voice pulled you from your thoughts again, preventing you from letting your mind wander too far.

“If you time it right, you can escape by dropping down to bend your knees then strike the vital area closest to you. If you can strike the torso area, use your elbow and aim for the solar plexus. Striking there should knock the wind out of them and give you time to escape.”

“That move should come in handy. Thanks for showing me, Steve.” You turned your head to look over your shoulder at Steve.

“You’re welcome.” Steve smiled back at you as he carefully withdrew his arms away from you.

Despite the fact your heart wouldn’t stop pounding in your chest and your face was starting to feel hot, you couldn’t bring yourself to tear your eyes away from Steve’s eyes. You couldn’t help but notice that his piercing blue eyes carried a hint of green in them, which made it that much harder to look away.

 _Oh **s** ugar, **h** oney, **i** ced **t** ea, why does this man have to be so fine?_ You mentally sighed longingly. 

Before you could gaze into Steve’s eyes any further, a new voice had jumped into the conversation, bringing you back to reality.

“Hey guys, hope I’m not interrupting.” another voice spoke.

You and Steve turned to see Clint standing there with a lopsided smile on his face.

“Not at all, Clint,” Steve said. “I was just teaching [Name] some self-defense moves. Care to join us?”

“Thanks, but I’ve got a training regimen of my own to work on today. Don’t stop on my account though. Just pretend I’m not even here.” Clint reassured.

 _Great, first Tony, now Hawkeye caught me checking out Steve. I really need to be more discrete._ You declared to yourself.

“Actually, we were just, uh, about to take a break. So I’m gonna go… fill up my water bottle.” You said.

“Well, don’t let me keep you. Nice meeting you by the way.”

“Likewise, Clint.”

You hurried over to your gym bag, to get your empty water bottle before you walked out of the private gym to fill it up while ignoring Clint's smug smile.


End file.
